It is time to get serious and talk about the amazing services, teams and individuals that we have across Community and Oral Health.

And, for some reason I keep on talking about this amazing fellow called Ron and all of our great gardeners.

Congratulations to Ron for his Commissioner’s Commendation of Notable Action award for his work at the Moreton Bay SES Unit at Petrie.

His commendation was for outstanding professionalism, bravery and skill in hazardous circumstances during flood boat and flood damage operations in February 2022.

Ron who has been a gardener at Brighton Health Campus for the past 15 years and member of the SES for 25. Clearly, he has a heart of gold.

More details about Ron’s award can be found at Moreton Bay SES volunteers decorated during SES Week celebrations – City of Moreton Bay.

Executive Roadshow continues at Halwyn

Our Executive Roadshow and monthly Shining Star awards continued at the Halwyn Centre this week and we celebrated with our shining stars.

Congratulations to our Shining Star Winners for September.

• Geraldine Horan, Nurse Unit Manager
• Meredith Davis, Physiotherapist
• Aina Fernandez, Administration Officer.

A big thank you to all of our Shining Star nominees who are doing such an amazing job caring for our residents.

They included:

• Zoe Campbell, Registered Nurse
• Laxmi Acharya, A/Nurse Unit Manager
• Amanda Barnett, Dietician.

More detail about the winners will be included in the Voice of Halwyn publication coming out shortly.

Fond farewell for Terry

We have had some very significant retirements over the past year and it is time to say goodbye to Terry Whalley, an Information and Support Officer at North Lakes Health Precinct, who I had a chance to catch up with this week.

Terry was just about to come up to 43 years of service after starting his career in 1981 as an ‘XRay Runner’ at the Mater Hospital, and has had long stints at Caboolture Hospital and Community and Oral Health.

If you know Terry, you won’t be surprised that he is keen to continue enjoying life with his swimming, paddle boarding and caravanning, and will be heading overseas for a bucket list trip to Alaska next year.

Good luck Terry, we wish you the best.

Workforce Reform Roadshows Metro North Health continues to explore how we can address workload demands and the global shortages of healthcare workers. Metro North’s Workforce Reform Roadmap has been co-designed by our people, external partners and workforce experts. It aims to support our employees by creating new and innovative ways to build and retain talent and innovate new ways to deliver our service. The Roadmap outlines critical programs of work over the next 10 years to drive workforce reform and create a sustainable workforce into the future. The People and Culture team is hosting 12 roadmap roadshows at locations across Metro North. There will be two sessions at Community and Oral Health on October 24 at 9.00 – 10.00 am and 1.00 – 2.00 pm at the Brighton Auditorium. Don’t worry if you can’t make it at these times – you can attend any session at any Metro North facility.

QSuper visit and North Lakes Awards

On Tuesday, we announce our first four exceptional staff who will receive a 2023 Community and Oral Health Staff Excellence Award.

I am very excited about the awards this year as we had some great and deserving nominations. Please come along to the ceremony (there will be heaps of cake):

2023 North Lakes Health Precinct Staff Excellence Awards
Tuesday 3 October
2.00 – 3.00 pm
North Lakes Health Precinct, Large Staff Kitchen.

A final shout out

Monday was World Pharmacist Day, and we cast the spotlight on one of our amazing Senior Pharmacists who works at one of many of our Community and Oral Health facilities.

Tessa Beale is supporting patients needing that extra bit of time to recover from an acute condition or injury following a hospital admission.

Find out more about Tessa and our great pharmacy team.

Glynis.